The Myth of Personal Power

Imagine you are all alone with your best friend who happens to be of the opposite sex. There are no other humans. You see everything the same way, and you get on like a house on fire. There is no concept of you and him, you are simply an "us." You are of one mind though you are not consciously aware of this concept. As you are all alone, there is no one for you to compare yourself against, therefore, the concept of beauty doesn't exist. You simply accept who you are and your partner as who he is. You accept nature with its diversity for what it is. You have no concept of lack; everything you need is always there in abundance. There is no sense of power, nor is there a sense of love. There is only a presence that is your life. You are in bliss land.

One day your partner suggests he would like to explore another part of where you are. You are happy for him to do this. You decide you will also explore another part of the land. As soon as your partner is gone you start feeling a sense of loss. You interpret the space between you as a separation. For the first time you experience yourself as a separate "I". You believe you are all alone, an individual with your own thoughts.

Your sense of separation leads you to believe nature is also separate from you. You feel you need some sense of control over what is apart from you. Because you feel you need to have control over something, you attract circumstances which leads you to want to take control. Nature even turns against you. The world is no longer blissful but quite scary. You are now missing your partner and believe his presence will help allay some of your fears. You start thinking of ways you could get him to return to you. Your eyes are now open to the concept of personal power. You also feel as if you need your partner there to care for you. You now experience love as in the ability to love someone that is apart from you and being loved in return.

Oddly enough, your partner is going through similar anxieties because, as you are of one mind, your fears are also shared. Your partner is also thinking he is all alone and has his own power. He is also seeing the world as a threatening place.

After some time you are reunited. However, you are no longer the harmonious couple you used to be. You are two individuals with separate powers fighting to take control over one another and the world around you. You are no longer being but surviving.

The truth is there is only one. It doesn't matter whether someone is a billion light years away from you, you are always one. What about the concept of "you experience what you believe?" if you believe there are individual minds, will you experience that as your reality? Yes. If you believe you have your own mind then you will live in an adversarial reality. However, your belief will not change the immutable truth that there is only One.

When you know there is only one, someone could be in the next galaxy and you will still feel close. But when you are of the belief in many minds, you will feel great loss when someone is not physically close to you.

One who knows there is only one is aware there is no personal power, there is only power. One who believes in different minds thinks he has his own personal power which he can use to give himself an advantage over his illusory opponent.

One who knows there is only one is aware that what blesses one blesses all. One who believes in different minds thinks what blesses one only applies to the one and not others.

Oneness of mind doesn't mean sameness? If that were the case everything in nature would look the same. Diversity is intrinsically part of the One, the way the One experiences Self. Thus, we are all unique in our nature, yet, there is only One of us.

If you wish to live in a fairy tale, personal power is a useful belief to have. If you wish to live in Reality, personal power is a myth. Only One Exists.